The 13-year-old, who ducked under railroad crossing gates in Garfield and was killed by a second train he didn’t see coming, could indirectly save lives in the future.

His death a year ago inspired state officials to install talking digital signs that warn pedestrians: "DANGER! ANOTHER TRAIN COMING."

"Sometimes, the loss of a life gets people to push for something that was needed long ago," Garfield Schools Superintendent Nicholas Perrapato said.

If the safety signs outside the Plauderville Station in Garfield prove effective over the next year of the pilot program, they could be brought to other crossings, officials said today.

State Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson was so unnerved by the death of Michael last Oct. 3 — and two teens who were killed by a train as they walked on a trestle in Wayne the night before — that he formed a committee of transit experts to look for ways to decrease fatalities at rail crossings.

The Garfield warning signs stemmed from that committee.

"It is our strong hope that the signs will stop people in their tracks and (they) choose a safer course of action than ducking under an activated grade-crossing warning gate," Simpson said during a news conference at the tracks crossing Outwater Lane.

In addition, "skirts" preventing pedestrians from ducking under crossing gates were installed at the Aberdeen-Matawan Station in Monmouth County as part of a one-year pilot program, and railroad safety tips have been discussed with 30,000 students at 135 schools.

So far this year, the number of pedestrian fatalities has dropped.

There have been 11 fatalities this year — just one at a grade crossing — compared with 16 fatalities in 2011, including three at grade crossings, officials said.

"I hope that’s not luck. I hope it has to do with the education," Simpson said.

A memorial shrine remains near the Garfield tracks for Michael, a bespectacled youngster who was walking home from cross-country practice.

"This tragedy was something that really hit our community very, very hard," Garfield City Manager Thomas Duch said. "This is something that has happened here in Garfield a couple of times. The first train goes by and someone decides to cross the tracks and the second train is coming in the opposite direction."